CALGARY — Alberta Premier Rachel Notley called an election Tuesday, kicking off a campaign at a time when some of the province’s labour market indicators are showing their worst signs during a election cycle in more than 30 years.
Jason Kenney, the leader of the UCP, kicked off his campaign Tuesday at an event in an industrial yard south of Edmonton with a sign that had three words stacked on top of each other: “jobs,” “economy” and “pipelines.” The province’s struggling economy is widely expected to be a main point of debate throughout the campaign as Albertans prepare to vote on April 16 and jobs are expected to be a key issue.
More troubling, however, the rate of participation in the province’s labour force is among the worst during an election cycle since data was first recorded in 1976, University of Alberta associate economist professor Joseph Marchand said. “This is historically the worst or tied for the worst,” Marchand said of how the two measurements compare with data from previous election cycles. “I think this should be the central focus of this election cycle.”
Notley led the NDP to power at a time when large Calgary-based companies were laying off staff to cut costs amid low oil prices, but those jobs did not return as lack of export pipelines negated any gains from rebounding commodity prices.
Notley's 4 year record of absolute failure speaks for itself. A complete trainwreck!